Middleburg Day 3 Finale: 'Banshees of Inisherin', 'Glass Onion' and our annual Oscar panel

by Nathaniel R

Brendan Gleeson & Colin Farrell promoting their movie for ET. They also appeared onscreen before the Middleburg showing to introduce the film.

Safely ensconced back in NYC... or Brooklyn, rather (I've moved). Here's a quick take of the last day and a half of the festival. Middleburg is a four day festival but our flight times Sunday prevented us from staying for the Terence Blanchard concert on Sunday night (*weeping*). It was a low key day given the time constraints so my boyfriend and I hit the stables very briefly at the Salamander Resort & Spa to see the horses (I always make time for that though I've only actually ridden one in my first year there) and we squeezed in one final film before heading to the airport. And what a movie it was! The US Ambassador to Ireland was on hand to introduce the film and she explained what banshees were "female spirits who warn of impending death" but followed that quickly with "but I promise it's fun!" eliciting a big laugh from the eager sold out house. Promise kept as The Banshees of Inisherin is a banger...

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TIFF Diary #4 - 'My Policeman' and 'Banshees of Inisherin'

by Baby Clyde

7 hours of glorious sleep at a festival! Knowing that nothing could compare to my Tanya T adventure the day before, I sensibly hadn’t booked any further films for the evening, so I was home in bed by midnight. I know it sounds ridiculous when some people work in mines and on 16-hour shifts of emergency wards, but film festivals are exhausting! Not proper, real-world exhausting but certainly no-time-to-do-anything-else or call your mum exhausting. I also of course have to find time every day to send these lightweight bulletins for the millions of you eagerly awaiting my next update. All refreshed at 7am I was ready for the days entertainment. As you will discover that early start came back to bite me by the end of the day. 

I started my viewing in style, Harry Styles in point of fact. After dabbling in acting the last few years, he’s been handed actual leading-man status. By the evidence of this offering, it may be a bit too soon...

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Venice Diary #6 - Banshees of Inisherin, Don't Worry Darling, and Tilda Swinton (twice)

by Elisa Giudici

Are Hollywood stars saving Venice as we enter the home stretch? The answer is yes, but not always willingly. Traditionally the back half of the Venice Film Festival is less glamorous, less exciting, and sometimes even a little dull. Toronto starts, a good portion of the international press leaves, and the most hideous filler of the competition fills the daily program. Not this year, though! Suddenly there's a movie that's even better than The Whale, so don’t worry darlings, today we have some real treats and gallons of drama...

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Venice at Home – Day 6: (A)Moral Tales

by Cláudio Alves

Good news for Martin McDonagh fans - The Banshees of Inisherin is getting great reviews, marking a potential return to form after Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri proved to be a polarizing picture, regardless of its awards success. The new film reunites the Irish director with two of his favorite thespians, Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell. With another hit on his resume, the latter is having a marvelous year. Maybe that will materialize in Oscar buzz, or maybe not.

In contrast, Koji Fukada and his cast need not worry about such matters. The Japanese auteur rarely registers with voters beyond the festival circuit. Nevertheless, fans should be excited about Love Life, a family drama centering on a returning patriarch who brings with him much pain and guilt. Such aching themes are a constant in Martin McDonagh's cinema, too, featuring prominently in the first collaboration between the director, Farrell, and Gleeson. So let's remember that brilliant black comedy and one of Fukada's offbeat oddities… 

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Yes, No, Maybe So? "The Banshees of Inisherin"

by Nathaniel R

You can tell that it's August since more and more 'prestige' projects are revealing themselves and the fall film season is looking mighty tasty. Today the first poster and trailer to Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin. We don't know how Martin McDonagh keeps getting away with memorable film titles when Hollywood loves nothing more than to rename projects something utterly generic the title alone works wonders. What does it mean exactly in this context? It's so evocative and Irish, too. This is McDonagh's first film since his mainstream breakthrough with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) though he was of course already an Oscar winner before that film via his short film Six Shooter (2004). Curiously he has yet to win a Tony despite five of his projects being nominated for Best Play (The Beauty Queen of Lenane, The Lonesome West, TThe Lieutenant of Inishmore, Hangmen, and our favourite of his work The Pillowman).

After the jump the poster and trailer...

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